The guys waited eagerly as Midnight returned, levitating the perfect spread for a guys' night and set it around the game board, as he declared, "Alrighty, boys, chips n' dip, two large size pizza pies from Pepper Pony's, perfectly chilled colt cola and sprix sodas, cheesed oatburgers with sesame seed buns, and of course a Sugarcube Corner Sampler Platter! Stuff yourselves silly!"

Spike, Mac, Thunderlane, and Sunburst happily took Midnight up on that and prepared to gorge, taking the paper plates and cups Midnight had also provided, helping themselves until they had filled their plates and gotten their drinks before settling to feed their bellies. For a short while there was silence except for scarfing, mmm'ing, gulping, slurping, until it concluded with a belching contest that Mac won hooves down although Spike came close, thanks to his dragonly gut giving him a boost.

The guys sat a while, enjoying the satisfying bliss that came from a full belly, and after a while, Sunburst sat up and cleared his throat, "Okay, uh- Anyone else still hungry or should we get back into it?"

"I'm good!"
"Me too."
"Me three."
"Eeyup."

"Okay then, the party has completed their preparations and have begun their quest," Sunburst started off, "the first leg of their journey... lies through the Forest of Fear...!"

The adventure had truly begun. The wizard, the ranger, the knight, and the monk had left the village after saving it from the Manticore, for which the mayor had rewarded them with all the supplies they needed, and Orion, being the ranger and thus a master of traversing the wilds, led them onward to the dreaded Forest of Fear. The noonday sun had passed, and though nightfall was still a ways off, it was still gloomy and ominous beneath the thick canopy of the forest, known for being home to many fearsome beasts and vicious creatures.

Garbunkle clutched his staff, a bit fidgety at the environment. Sir MacBiggun gulped as he was half-startled by the distant cry of some kind of animal. Orion led the party while Jin Fuu brought up the rear. Though they were composed, both the ranger and the monk were nervous as well as their senses were vigilant for any indication of danger.

"Oh...! Why couldn't we have taken the route towards the Dragon's Spine mountain range?" Garbunkle complained fretfully.

"We discussed this, that way would take far too long," Orion reminded the wizard, "and in case you forgot what we heard at the tavern before we left the village?"

"Eeyup, wer' not th' only ones a'searchin' for th' Wand o' Rule," MacBiggun sighed, "th' nice barmare told us someone's gone an' hired some mercs t' find the Wand too!"

"A web of conspiracy weaves around Princess Majesty," Jin Fuu spoke with caution, "whether by her or against her, is too soon to tell..."

"Going along the Dragon's Spine would increase the chances of us encountering those mercenaries," Orion nodded, "but no merc would dare to pass through the Forest of Fear."

"What was that?!" Garbunkle yelped as he raised his staff, ready to cast a spell.

"Ur- Tha' was me, sorry..." Garbunkle blushed as his tummy continued to growl.

"Shush up your gut!" Orion hissed, "Or every predator nearby will be on us!"

"Ah can't help it! When Ah get nervous, Ah get hungry...!" MacBiggun replied apologetically, when a scent tickled at his nose. He took a sniff. Then some more, and then a big whiff! "Sumpin' smells... yummy!"

"A delicious smell beckons at you, making your stomach growl even louder! Roll a 12 or higher and resist your hunger but increase the chance of encountering opposition. 11 or lower, you give in and follow the scent."

"Alrighty, here goes...!"

*Roll*

"9. You give into your hunger and follow the scent."

"MacBiggun..." Orion said warily as his friend licked his lips.
"Uh-oh...!" Garbunkle gulped.
"Tell me he's not...!" Jin Fuu began, but Mac Biggun confirmed it for him.

"Ah'm a comin' t' get it! YEEHAW!" MacBiggun reared up to flail his front legs before he took off through the foliage, following the delicious smell.

"After him!" Orion yelled and they hurried after their hungry friend.

Despite calling out to MacBiggun, warning him, trying to dissuade him, their words fell on ears deafened by a hungry belly growling at MacBiggun to feed it.

"I knew we should have had a bigger meal before we left the village!" Garbunkle griped as he did his best to keep up.
"He won't even stop to go through his pack for the food he has!" Orion pointed out.
"Sir MacBiggun's mind is fogged with hunger," Jin Fuu noted, "thus, he is not thinking clearly."

Indeed, as MacBiggun panted like a dog, his gut grumbling more in anticipation of whatever was causing that delicious smell. Finally, MacBiggun came to a halt and saw the source of that delectable aroma.

There, sitting on a lonesome stump, was perhaps the most beautiful, the most glorious, the most perfectly ripe golden apple the knight had ever seen!

"An apple? Really?"
"It was the first thing that came to mind!"

The others caught up with MacBiggun, just in time to see him take his first bite of the apple, causing them all to shout, "NOOO!!!!"

The four adventurers all screamed as they all suddenly found themselves hanging upside-down, bouncing a little, as they hung by their legs from ropes, and realized, it was a trap.

"Augh! My ankle!"
"Well this is a fine how-do-you do..."
"Way to go, MacBiggun, always thinking with your stomach!"

MacBiggun didn't respond, as he mmm'd at the taste of the delectable Golden Apple awash in his mouth and carried on with his snacking.

"We need to free ourselves before whoever set this trap shows up," Jin Fuu brought up.

"Garbunkle, can you do something about this? We dropped our weapons!" Orion pointed to his bow and knives, MacBiggun's sword and shield, but there was also Garbunkle's staff.

"I can't do magic without my staff, I need a conduit to channel my mana," Garbunkle responded.

Gulping down the rest of the apple, MacBiggun spoke up, "Well, uh... Ah can use mah magic t' undo th' ropes."

"Then get to it, you big oaf!" Orion groaned, his cheek mushed up against MacBiggun's plot, "And after this, we're gonna have a talk..."

MacBiggun grimaced, but he focused his energy towards his horn, envisioning the ropes coming undone-

"WHOA!!" "ACK!" AUGH!" "WHOOPS!"

*Kerplump*

"Ow..." "Mmmaybe Ah shoulda lowered th' ropes insteada undoin' `em?" "Get your butt out of my face!"

The achy groans and dumb statements and nasty comments came to an end when the foliage around them all shook and quivered... before numerous furry savage looking creatures seemed to melt out of the forest, clutching spears, clubs, bows n' arrows, wooden shields covered in rawhide, their fierce eyes aimed at their catch of the day. They had bodies like apes, but with the heads and tails of hyenas, and paw-like hands. They had large sharp teeth, vicious claws, were garbed in tribal loincloths, leggings, wore trinkets made from bones, animal teeth and claws, some had feathers extending from headbands, some wore shoulder straps, and most of them had what seemed to be war paint in their fur in various colors and patterns.

"Uh-oh..." MacBiggun uttered dumbly.

"Orion, what are they?" Jin Fuu asked.

"Gnolls..." Orion whispered cautiously, "they're a tribal race known for being savage and ruthless! We need to get our weapons..."

"Ohhh, my head..." Garbunkle whined as he sat up, revealing himself from under some ferns, holding up his staff to lean on, and the sight of him caused all the gnolls to suddenly GASP!

Two large gnolls started speaking with each other, in a language that sounded like gnashing teeth and guttural growls, the rest seemed to mutter under their breaths as they gazed in awe of the little dragon wizard... before they all began to bow while growling softly in a rhythmic manner, bewildering the adventurers.

"Wha... what's going on?" asked Jin Fuu.
"Search me," MacBiggun responded dumbly.
"I- I've... never seen gnolls act like this," Orion was equally stumped.

Then, one of the gnolls spoke directly to Garbunkle, confusing the dragon wizard a moment before he remembered he had his staff back, and the jewel lit up softly as he cast a spell. Garbunkle then responded to the gnoll that had addressed him, in the gnoll's own language! Although Garbunkle spoke more slowly and hesitantly. When their conversation seemed to get a little more animated, Orion interrupted, "Uh- Garbunkle? Can you understand what they're saying?"

"Somewhat, yeah," Garbunkle replied, "although my translation magic is a little rusty."

"What are you telling them?" asked Jin Fuu.

"...'Hello', I think," Garbunkle shrugged, "It's hard to say, because their language is kinda primitive, they don't have a broader context for things like we do. But it seems they think that I'm some sort of god!"

MacBiggun and Jin Fuu shared a deadpan look while Orion suggested, "Well, then why don't you use your 'divine influence' and get us out of this mess?"

"Sorry, Orion, but that's kind of a no-no for me," Garbunkle shrugged apologetically.

"No-no?" Orion echoed, his tone laced with impatience.

"I am a wizard, and it is against the Code of Merlin for us to impersonate a deity," Garbunkle answered as though that were that.

"Oh, you can take your 'Code of Merlin' and shove it right up your-" Orion raised his voice when there was a 'THWIT' sound and almost instantly a feathered dart in his neck, causing him to keel over a moment after.

"We're in trouble," Jin Fuu deadpanned.
"Eeyup," nodded MacBiggun.

The party was taken to the gnoll village, where Garbunkle was placed among a primitive throne, decorated with brilliant feathers and animal skulls. As for the others, MacBiggun and Jin Fuu were tied vertically to posts while Orion was tied to one horizontal and set over what a pile of wood.

"Garbunkle..." Orion called out, already having an idea of the direction this was going, "would you care to ask your new subjects exactly what's going on here?"

"Uh, sure thing!" Garbunkle replied, before he cast his translation spell again, making his words sound like the gnoll language, and he addressed one of the gnolls near him, looking and sounding curious.

The gnoll responded, sounding respectful to Garbunkle's query while pointing to Orion, and then the other two adventurers, and then rubbing his belly while licking his chomps. Garbunkle grimaced before telling his friends, "Well, uh... gentlecolts, it seems you are all to be cooked into a feast in my honor..."

"Garbunkle, you must tell them to set us free," Jin Fuu suggested with an edge of insistence.

"Right, uh..." Garbunkle spoke to the gnolls again, at first perplexing them but then they all growled and shook their heads, grumbling, and Garbunkle was stumped.

"I take it they said 'no'," Orion remarked with the barest sarcasm and felt his heart jump into his throat when he noticed a gnoll approaching with a lit torch. "Garbunkle...!"

Garbunkle then tried speaking to the gnolls again, but the one approaching Orion was already lowering the torch to light the fire-

*Vzing/fwit*

"Hurgh?!" the gnoll with the torch was surprised to see it had snuffed itself out somehow.

Orion's sharp eyes noticed MacBiggun's horn had faintly glowed for a moment, and he phew'd in relief, realizing MacBiggun had used his magic to put out the torch. That relief went out the window however when the gnoll raised his fingers and snapped them, a small fire igniting above the fingertip, obviously some kind of magic, and he bent down to light the firewood. Orion gave MacBiggun an alarmed look, and MacBiggun cast his quenching spell on the gnoll's fire, annoying him as he tried again, and again MacBiggun snuffed it.

It would have been funny, seeing as this went on for a bit, but then another gnoll noticed MacBiggun, and barked out something, alerting the others of MacBiggun's magical meddling. The gnoll Garbunkle was talking to growled and then pointed at MacBiggun, snarling some kind of order, and two gnolls began to approach the prisoners, one holding a heavy crude blade.

"Oh no, MacBiggun!" Garbunkle called out in warning. "They're gonna cut off your horn!"

"Nnope, nnope, nnope!" MacBiggun started struggling to get free as he used telekinetic pulses to push the approaching gnolls away, but they all knew sooner or later they'd succeed.

Thinking quickly, Orion had an idea!
"Garbunkle, cover your ears! MacBiggun, use your magic to protect yours and Jin's ears!"

He waited for them to do so, and once they all nodded, Orion took in as big an inhale as he could breathe... and SCREAMED!!!!

The sheer force in the Lunar Pony's Sonic Scream, which was aimed directly at the ground beneath him, sent the firewood, as well as ashy remains of the last fire, hurtling in all directions. The lucky gnolls got ash and dirt in their eyes and mouths, the unlucky ones got their noggins struck by pieces of the firewood, and almost all of them got their eardrums blasted with such agony they did their best to cover their ears while screaming as well. Those that had been too close were sent flying backwards.

As the dust settled, the gnolls that weren't blown away were either unconscious or heaped about in a moaning daze. The firewood was gone, and the force of his scream had made Orion rise up into a somewhat slanted vertical position... until his weight caused the pole he was still tied to to tip over, and he YIPE'd as he fell flat on his face, leaving him groaning as well.

"Huh. That's one way..." Garbunkle was so glad he'd covered his ears, as Orion had warned him, and quickly grabbed his staff and levitated Orion back up while undoing his bonds. "Doing alright there, Orion?"

"Ugh... ask me when we get the hay out of here," Orion grumbled before saying, "Free the others while I get our weapons."

"Right," Garbunkle hurried over to Jin Fuu and MacBiggun, the two of them a little dazed from the sonic scream. "Hold on, guys, I'll have you free in a jiffy."

But just as Garbunkle did so and the two stallions slumped down, freed as well, they heard a "BLAURGH!!!" and looked to see a large gnoll, his arms pumped with muscle and his middle plump with fat, wearing more elaborate tribal wear and a headdress of bone, indicating this was the gnoll chief. He snarled and pointed a condemning claw at Garbunkle as he spoke in the gnoll language and Garbunkle gulped.

"Wha'd he say?" asked MacBiggun, having just snapped out of his daze.

"Er... he just declared me an imposter and that I will pay for deceiving him and his tribe, along with you, my heathen followers... something like that," Garbunkle with an uncomfortable grimace.

"Seriously? They're the ones who mistook you for their deity," Jin Fuu remarked.

But then, the gnoll chief barked out something that sounded like "GNARFAS!!" before growling as he pointed at the adventurers... and they heard a nearby roar so savage it sent an unsettling chill into the marrow of their bones.

Before any of them could ask what that was, the answer made itself known by jumping over the nearby huts that still stood and landing several yards away from them. It as a HUGE gnoll but with four arms! He had blood red fur, a tawny underbelly, dark brown spots, wore a loincloth and a crossbelt harness over his chest, and he wielding a large polearm weapon where each end had a chain that connected to heavy morning stars. His body was covered with battle scars, his mouth was filled with grisly bloodstained teeth, and he had a scar around his left dead eye while his right eye, colored molten gold, was glaring straight at them.

"You've avoided becoming dinner, but the gnoll chief has summoned the champion of his tribe, Gnarfas! Roll an 18 or more and you'll be able to cast a sleeping spell and escape without a problem. Any lower and you must fight..."

"Oh boy...!" *Roll*

"2. Sorry, guys! Time for a mini-boss battle."

"Aw c'mon, Sunburst! Those odds were way too low! I wanna roll again."

"Sorry, rules are rules. Look out for Gnarfas's first attack...!"

"DUCK!!" Jin Fuu cried out as he pushed Garbunkle and MacBiggun's heads down, and just in the nick of time, for Gnarfas had whirled his morning star pole-arm and sent one of the spike-covered cannonball-sized flails hurtling towards them. It passed over them by a hairsbreadth and utterly totaled the tree that they'd been standing in front of.

"Guys, get back!" Garbunkle got up and pointed his staff at the mutant gnoll, yelling, "Oculus Obscuro!"

A haze of magic, like a shimmering shadow, flew from the top of Garbunkle's staff, and wrapped itself around Gnarfas' head, covering his eyes like a blindfold. The monstrous gnoll warrior snarled in annoyance as he used one of his hands to try and rip the conjured blindfold off, only to feel nothing! It was as if the blindfold wasn't really there and yet it did its job, making him unable to see. Gnarfas snarled in vexation when he realized he couldn't tear off the blindfold, as it was made of magic, and held up his pole-arm/flail /morning star weapon and started lashing it out, hoping to get lucky.

Thankfully, they just had to keep out of range, but they knew eventually Gnarfas would change tactics.

"I have to maintain the spell to keep him blind!" Garbunkle explained to his friends while keeping his focus upon their foe, "Prepare for battle!"

"You're gonna need these!" They all turned to see Orion arrive, carrying their weapons, and quickly passed over MacBiggun's sword and shield, and Jin Fuu's hoof bracers, while Orion strapped on his knives and made sure his bow and quiver were at the ready.
"Garbunkle, how much longer can you keep him blinded?"

"As long as I don't run out of mana, but I could drop the spell and use something more offensive!" Garbunkle responded with a groan, indicating he was feeling pressured.

"You have a choice whether to keep the enemy blinded and go without your magical support, or end the advantage and have your wizard back you up. Which do you choose?"

"Drop the spell, Garbunkle! We'll face him together!"

"Alright... when I give the signal, attack before he can get his wits back...!" Garbunkle responded.

"Surround him!" Orion yelled to his comrades. MacBiggun drew closer, raising his shield in front of him and his sword at his side, Jin Fuu moving to stand at the opposite position, keeping Gnarfas between them though they stayed out of range of his weapon, which continued to flail about with lethal force. Orion flapped his wings and used his magic to adhere himself to stand on the trunk of a nearby tree, and took aim with his bow, an arrow ready to fly.

"NOW!!!" Garbunkle yelled as he dropped in relief, his spell ending, and the blindfold covering Gnarfas' eyes vanished like a wisp of smoke.

As light and vision was restored to the savage warrior, he blinked in a daze... when he felt something heavy crash into his side and then something cut one of his hands off! He roared more in shock than in agony, when what felt like armored hooves struck him in the face and then he felt more hooves kick his hand holding his weapon, causing him to drop it.

Before Gnarfa could look for his weapon to pick it up, an explosion of AGONY burst in his eye socket as an arrow found its mark, destroying Gnarfas' remaining good eye.

"Tethar Riaso!" cried out the same voice that had blinded him earlier, and he felt something like ropes tie his legs together, and he flailed his arms, trying to balance himself, but it did no good, and he went down like a tree falling to an axe.

"MacBiggun! It's all you!" Garbunkle yelled as he cast another spell, "Aloftivate!"

"EEYUP!!" MacBiggun felt the magic give him a boost and he was airborne, his sword raised...!

Gnarfas let out a gurgly growl of choked agony... and his body moved no more, MacBiggun drawing his blade out from the between the monster's shoulder blades.

The comrades all converged on MacBiggun, whooping, sharing kudos, when...

"What... have you done?!" They looked to see the gnoll chieftain glaring bloody murder at them as he seethed, "You've ruined everything... EVERYTHING!!!"

*Thwipshink/"GAUGH!!"*

And just like that, the gnoll chieftain keel over from the arrow Orion had shot straight between his eyes. The others gave him a somewhat frightened look, and he shrugged, "What?! He tried to cook us, and he sicc'd his freak champion on us. Did you want to deal with his raving vengeance?"

They shared a deadpan look and shrugged in agreement before they all took some nice plunder from the gnoll village and continued their quest.

Oculus Obscuro (Latin for 'eye in the dark') Conjures a shroud of mana to blindfold a target, rendering them unable to see

Tethar Riaso (Tether + Lariat + Lasso) Conjures a rope of mana to lash out and snare a target

Aloftivate (Aloft + Levitate) Levitates a target or gives one a boost into the air